Mouth brooder cichlids

This is a discussion on Mouth brooder cichlids within the Fish Breeding forums, part of the Advanced Freshwater Discussion category; -->
im looking into maybe learning what it takes to breed mouth brooder cichlids. iv done so many google searches on the topic yet i ...

im looking into maybe learning what it takes to breed mouth brooder cichlids. iv done so many google searches on the topic yet i find so little information on just that spacific topic. anyone have any info sutch as links and sutch with maybe a list of cichlids that are mouth brooders and what they requier sutch as temps and conditions for breeding. another thing iv been woundering yet cant find a answere to is are the fry also territorial once released like the adults or dose that come with age.

I'm no expert on breeding by any means but I can tell you my experiences with it.

I used to have a 55 gallon african cichlid tank with all the typical little guys you can find at pet stores, my list included:

Labidochromis caeruleus - "Electric Yellow Lab"

Metriaclima estherae - "Red Zebra"

Pseudotropheus crabro - "Bumblebee"

Pseudotropheus demasoni

and
Melanochromis johanni

(That's all I can remember off the top of my head)

I had a sand substrate and my only decor was stacked slate pieces, similar to this:

I kept the water parameters pretty darn perfect (ammonia: 0, nitrates: <10, nitrites: 0, etc) and had a pH around 8.2. I hadn't intended on breeding so I wasn't overly concerned about getting pairs at the time I purchased them, I just got what was cute.

I ended up with three of the Pseudotropheus demasoni, and those are the ones that bred for me, completely on their own. I would suggest, if you're going for breeding, getting six or so juveniles so you can be sure you've got at least one male and one female. Then, if the water quality and they're comfortable enough in their habitat, they'll do their thing. Like I said, I wasn't trying but I got two broods from my pair before I had to give them away. The woman who took them has had another three broods from them as well as about six other broods from my other fish hooking up with some she already had.

I also work at PetSmart and we had a pair in one of the tanks that bred there, in a teensy five gallon with 8 other full sized fish and a low pH, so maybe as long as you have a pair they'll do it.

The way I see it, if I can get them to breed, anyone can. Just make them happy and they'll make you babies :)

forgot to add, I never noticed any aggression from the fry, but you should make sure there's a ton of hiding spots for the fry, otherwise scoop them out 'cause they'll get eaten. and I had the temperature around (if I remember correctly) 80 dF.

thankes for the info. i went to my local petco today and talked to a woman who actually seemed to know what she was talking about when it came to fish ( i know i was suprised to lol) but she wasnt sure on what actual types of cichilids they had as they get them in a assortment. one thing i did learn is after a water change they are more likely to mate and to help with the agression lvl of the male toss in a few feeder goldfish for him to beat up. this will not only help save the females but also provides some sort of sick entertainment for the fish itself.

I think the lady was going for the idea of "target fish" which are added to the tank for exactly the same purpose. They are there to diffuse aggression of the mating pair but they're fast enough moving fish that they don't get hurt. I've heard of people using rainbowfish, maybe someone on here would have a better suggestion. But don't, under any circumstances, use feeder fish.

Feeder fish are bred in squalid conditions where they are overstocked, and underfed. This compromises their immune systems and they're much more suceptible to disease. That's why a lot of them are really sickly looking and have fungus or ich. Even if you picked the most healthy looking fish, you never know what it might be carrying. So basically plopping a couple of these in your tank could be a total disaster, and you'd kill off all your fish.

Your best bet is to ask people on here for a good species of target fish, and whatever they recommend (rainbowfish or otherwise) put it in quarantine for a few weeks before adding them to your tank.

it dose help ty... i was a little suspicious of the feeder goldfish myself as iv made the mistake of useing them befor to quicky and naturly raise the ph in a tank for a fish (forgot what it was it was quite a few years ago) that needed the high ph... needless to say i took the feeder fish out put the fish i wanted in and it died a few weeks later of ick and another fungus i couldnt identify.... what do ya guys think of danios (sp) or maybe a tiger barb.... both are quick and small enough to hide when it gets bad and the barb itself will even stand its ground... pluse both look nice lol

I would be hesitant to put tiger barbs in the tank, as they might be too aggressive and would possibly end up beating on each other. I've heard that with fish like that you need to have a large school so they won't be as aggressive to one another, and then it would turn into a "mostly tiger barbs with some african cichlids" tank instead of an "african cichlids with some target fish" tank. I read on another post here that someone suggested giant danios or silver dollars also. I personally like giant danios. :)

I'm sure if you just googled "target fish" you'd find tons of suggestions, then you could pick what you like or don't like.

Keep in mind, however, that what you're wanting would be a "target fish" and not a "dither fish." A lot of people lump them together but they actually serve two different purposes. So some species would work better as a dither and not a target, and vise versa.

Hello, I have a couple jack dempseys, they're mouth brooding cichlids, and they bred all on their own!

We have a community tank, and the male jack tries to beat up on the other fish, so that's something to keep in mind. I have a red-tailed shark, a leporinus fasciatus, a silvaritus cichlid, and a pleco in there with them. Crayfish didn't survive, neither did one of the other cichlids, and I had some tiger barbs but they didn't do so well either.

We have a 70 gal, I dunno about chemicals and stuff, I let my dad take care of that, but we stack flat rocks too, over gravel, and we have mostly fake plants but one very large live plant that we got from a friend, it looks like an amazon or something like that as far as I can tell.

Anyway, the cichlid couple breed very often, but none of the fry ever survive because the other fish eat them! Only one has survived so far, and he's been hiding out in the rocks and his parents are protecting him :) He pops out every once in awhile and they stuff him back in the rocks so he won't get eaten.

Oh we feed the fry brine shrimp, they love it.

I think the smaller black one is the momma, her name's Courage, and the bright rainbow one is the dad, he's Neptune. It's really incredible they can actually change color! Right now little Courage is blending in with her hubby to match him, and occassionally he turns dark to match her (in the picture below the tank he's turned darker, you can see Courage in the background and they're both black). Usually she lays her eggs out on a rock and then hubby comes over and seeds them, you can tell because he circles over them. Then they move them into a pit in the gravel and wait for them to hatch.

Our first batch was a total surprise! I could tell they were a couple and I saw them digging holes in the gravel but theyre aggressive so I thought it was just regular behavior, but then one day I came home and there was a swarm of mini fish all around the mama!